The Japan Society of Northern California (JSNC) and US – Japan Medtech Frontiers (USJMF) are delighted to announce that following two years of strategic collaboration, USJMF’s activities have been integrated into JSNC. These newly integrated forces will formally be named The U.S.– Japan Healthcare Connection. Its mission is to provide unique insights into future opportunities and […]
Thomas Alkeskjold is co-founder and CEO at Optheras. He has a background as innovation manager at A.P. Moller-Maersk, and as engineering manager and director of R&D at NKT Photonics. He has more than 20 years of experience in the field of optics and photonics, developing, maturing and bringing to market new laser technologies. He has a M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Laser and Fiber Optics Technology from the Technical University of Denmark.
Optheras A/S is a Danish medtech company, established in June 2022. The company specializes in developing laser-based technologies for the treatment of superficial bladder cancer, focusing on laser coagulation to target and treat non-invasive tumors. Their innovative approach aims to provide less invasive, low-pain alternatives to traditional surgical procedures, enabling treatments in office settings rather than operating rooms.
Peter Bauer is a medical device executive with three decades of experience advancing innovation in cardiology and heart failure management. His work spans implantable therapeutic devices and non-invasive cardiac diagnostics, with a focus on improving patient outcomes and quality of life.
Peter has held senior leadership roles at BIOTRONIK and Inovise Medical, bringing experience in both established medical device companies and innovative startups. At Inovise, he helped position the company as an international pioneer in non-invasive cardiac monitoring. His expertise encompasses business development, operations, clinical studies, product development, and early-stage commercialization.
As Chief Executive Officer of VisCardia, Inc., Peter leads the company’s strategy and operations, advancing a novel therapeutic approach for heart failure patients who remain symptomatic despite guideline-directed medical therapy. Under his leadership, VisCardia is advancing its technology toward commercialization and pursuing a $10 billion market opportunity.
In 1993, Takahashi began his career as a researcher at a pharmaceutical company. Following a series of mergers, he became affiliated with Bayer Yakuhin, Ltd., where he led projects focused on new drug discovery and validation. During this time, he also contributed to regenerative medicine and iPS cell research as a senior researcher at the Kobe Research Center.
He later served as manager of cardiovascular project management within Bayer’s Product Development Japan division, overseeing cardiovascular projects. He was subsequently appointed head of the Primary Care Department in Medical Affairs Japan. In 2014, he was appointed head of Bayer’s Open Innovation Center Japan. In this role, he not only established the center but also led the first comprehensive partnership with Kyoto University. He also launched Bayer’s third startup incubator, CoLaborator Kobe. As a member of the Bayer Open Innovation Global Leadership Team, he played a key role in advancing open innovation in Japan.
In 2022, Takahashi left Bayer and joined LINK-J as President & COO, where he has been contributing to the development of life science ecosystems in Japan. In April 2026, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer.
As a serial entrepreneur, innovator, and scholar, I have dedicated my career to seeking fundamental improvements in the quality and development of the Medical Devices Industry. As an entrepreneur and innovator, I founded five medical device companies ReVascular Therapeutics (Acq. Boston Scientific), PROSTIS, PerfusionRx, GVMED Incubator, and currently PercAssist CEO, and served as a consultant to over 50 companies in Silicon Valley. As a part of my mission to continue to inspire future generations to make advancements in Biotechnology, I served on the Board of Santa Clara University’s School of Bioengineering, as well as an Associate Professor of Bioengineering at Santa Clara University’s Bannan Graduate School of Engineering. In addition to this, I serve as a UCSF Surgical Consortium member, UCSF Catalyst Medical Innovation Program, BMES Executive Committee Founding Member, Simon Fraser School of Bioengineering Innovation Boulevard EiR. BC, Canada. Speaker at The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Pharmacy.
In response to changing clinical needs, I assess new clinical business opportunities worldwide and develop new technologies that are responsive to the dynamic nature of the health needs of the population. My hands-on experience resides in bringing new technologies from paper to full commercialization under the “Vision and Execution” philosophy.
Our unique proximity to Silicon Valley provides a wealth of opportunities for innovation like no other place in the world. I am always searching for the next frontier to improve clinical therapies and reduce healthcare costs.
As a partner of Saisei Ventures, Dr. Saito is responsible for Japan operations including company creation, integrating Japanese science and technology with the Western ecosystem. Prior to joining Saisei, he started career as a research scientist at Astellas Pharma Inc. and then as a Senior Manager of Business Development and as a Senior Investment Manager at Astellas Venture Management, a CVC arm based in Silicon Valley, USA, where he was a lead role for deal process, due diligence and transactions for venture investments in RNA therapeutics, cell and gene therapy. He was providing business support to portfolio companies based on the expertise, experience, and global network. Prior to joining Astellas, he was a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, and a Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. He received his B.S. in Biotechnology and M.S. and Ph.D. in Biomolecular Molecular Engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology.
Yamada joined NVIDIA Japan in 2004 following experience at a Japanese semiconductor company. After leading business development across PCs, workstations, and embedded systems, Yamada launched NVIDIA’s healthcare business and AI startup acceleration programs in Japan in 2016. Since 2021, Yamada has been dedicated to empowering healthcare developers, driving technical partnerships and enablements across AI medical devices, genomics, AI computational drug discovery, and digital health.
Richard N. Larsen, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, currently serves as Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Osaka-Kobe, Japan. His prior work in Japan includes serving as Deputy Chief of the Political-Military Affairs Unit at the U.S. Embassy from 2016 to 2019. Richard’s other overseas assignments include postings in Islamabad, Pakistan, as well as multiple assignments in China and Iraq.
In Washington, Richard served in the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs as Chief of Staff in the Office of the Assistant Secretary and as Director of the Office of Regional and Security Policy.
Before joining the State Department, Richard served in the U.S. Army. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College and Brigham Young University Law School. Richard is married and is joined in Japan by his wife; they have four grown children.
リチャード・N・ラーセン ― 在大阪・神戸米国総領事館総領事
＊下記の日本語文書は参考のための仮翻訳で、正文は英文です。
リチャード・N・ラーセンは、国務省の上級外交官であり、在大阪・神戸米国総領事館総領事を務める。2016年から2019年までは、在日米国大使館の政治部安全保障課に課長補佐として勤務した。また、パキスタンのイスラマバードでの勤務経験もあり、中国とイラクへは複数回赴任している。
ワシントンでは、国務省東アジア・太平洋局で、次官補室の首席補佐官や地域・安全保障政策室長を務めた。
国務省入省前は、陸軍に所属。米陸軍戦略大学、ブリガム・ヤング大学法科大学院を卒業した。日本には妻と赴任。成人した4人の子どもがいる。
After working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Tokyo, Dr. Hayashi engaged in drug discovery research in the field of neurological diseases (e.g., Target ID/validation, development of in vitro assay systems) as a researcher at Merck Research Laboratories, USA and Toray Pharmaceutical Research Laboratories, Inc. in Japan. After working as COO at Hamamatsu Pharma Research USA, Inc. in San Diego, U.S., he joined Open Innovation Center at Bayer Japan in May 2020 and was involved in programs such as the startup support program “Kansai Life Science Accelerator Program and a shared lab/office space, CoLaborator Kobe.
Since May 2023, he has been involved in fostering the life science innovation ecosystem and promoting overseas collaboration as Executive Life Science Strategist at Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. and President & COO at LINK-J.
PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Tokyo, R.Ph., and MBA from University of California, San Diego.
Felix co-founded Integrated Bio after serving as an NIH-funded independent fellow at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He brings over a decade of experience at the intersection of AI and biology. His research has been published in over 30 scientific papers and in leading journals such as Nature, Science, and Cell, and he has pioneered the use of AI approaches for discovering novel small-molecule compounds, including senolytics and antibiotics.
As Head of Operations at KORTUC INC., Seiko Kuroda is bringing a Japan-born cancer treatment technology to the global stage. She led the establishment of KORTUC’s U.S. operations as the company expanded its clinical development internationally. She now leads fundraising, business development, and planning for product launches in the U.S. and Europe.
Thanh Nguyen, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at UNMC and a healthcare entrepreneur committed to decentralizing medical care and closing global health equity gaps. Leveraging frontline clinical experience since 2010, Dr. Nguyen champions open-source design and advanced technologies like AI and 3D printing to create scalable, low-cost medical solutions. He is the founder of Open-MediciNE (2020), an initiative enabling low-resource communities to produce off-grid medical equipment locally. As a founding partner of UMD Inc. (2021), HemaGlobal (2024), and FlySwift Studios (2026), Dr. Nguyen combines commercial agility with humanitarian engineering to expand healthspan and transform global healthcare delivery.
Mainul Mondal is the Co-Founder and CEO at Ellipsis Health. Driven by his mother’s health journey and the power of empathetic care, Mainul founded Ellipsis Health to transform healthcare through conversational AI. Ellipsis Health’s pioneering vocal biomarker technology, backed by extensive research, led to the creation of Sage, an emotionally intelligent AI voice agent addressing staffing shortages and enhancing cost containment for large hospital systems, health plans, and specialty care managers. As a Nasdaq Milestone Maker and Rockefeller Fellow at the Public Health Institute, Mainul is a recognized leader shaping a future where technology and empathy converge to make quality care accessible to everyone.
Samet Yildirim is a biotech entrepreneur and business executive focused on
translating breakthrough stem cell and regenerative biology into scalable
therapeutic and commercial platforms. He is the Co-Founder and Chief Business
Officer of HexemBio, where he leads strategy, partnerships, and financing for a
longevity-focused biotechnology company. Prior to HexemBio, Samet founded and
built a stem cell technology startup from the ground up, advancing its technology
from early development through global scale-up and ultimately to a successful
acquisition. He previously spent nearly a decade at Boehringer Ingelheim, where
he served as Global Head of Technology and Innovation and led the development
of next-generation manufacturing platforms and digital CMC technologies for the
company’s biopharma business unit. Samet holds a Master of Business and Science
from Keck Graduate Institute and a Master of Science in Biophysics from Ankara
University.
Vik Kashyap is the Founder & CEO of Toi Labs, developer of TrueLoo, an AI-powered health monitoring platform that transforms the toilet into a source of longitudinal health data. Toi Labs’ work has been supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and leading global bathroom companies, including TOTO and Sloan. Vik previously developed a novel treatment approach for inflammatory bowel disease, co-authored research published in Science Translational Medicine, and is a graduate of Harvard University.
Paul Grimm is CEO and Board Member of Myoptechs, a pediatric ophthalmic medical device company developing patented soft contact lens and spectacle technologies designed to slow the progression of myopia in children. He has more than 20 years of commercial and executive leadership experience across medical devices, pharmaceuticals, medical nutrition, and consumer health, including leadership roles at Abbott Laboratories and Medicis Pharmaceutical. Over the past six years, Paul has focused on ophthalmology, including the development and commercialization of innovative early-stage technologies. At Myoptechs, he leads the company’s strategy, financing, clinical development, and strategic partnerships.
Ziad Ali is the co-founder and CEO of Clairvoyance, a Stanford spinout developing wearable biomagnetic sensing technology for health monitoring and medical devices. Ziad earned his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University under Prof. Ada Poon, where he developed the magnetic pixel technology powering Clairvoyance’s sensors. His work has been supported by the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship, National Science Foundation GRFP award, and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute.
Chen-Sen (“Samson”) Wu, JD, MD, is an attorney-physician with 20+ years of legal, medical affairs, and commercial launch experience across global pharma, med tech, and diagnostics companies, including multiple General Counsel roles at GE HealthCare, as Vice President of Global Medical Affairs at GSK leading 300+ professionals, and currently as General Counsel as well as Interim Vice President of Strategy and Value Enablement at Cepheid (a Danaher company). He combines broad legal, crisis management, and organizational change leadership – including championing adoption of legal AI technology (see https://lnkd.in/p/gMpg4d6s) – with deep domain expertise in healthcare regulations, product launches, medical and scientific affairs, mass tort / products liability litigation, and cross-border anti-bribery and anti-corruption (ABAC) investigations as part of a 3-year assignment to Singapore. He has served 10+ years on non-profit boards including as Secretary and on Audit, Governance, and Long-Range Planning committees for an academic center for Duke University students and faculty, a K-12 private school, organizations combatting human trafficking, and a clinic providing healthcare to underserved communities. Samson received his degrees from Yale Law School, Duke University School of Medicine, and Stanford University.
Toshihiro Maeda serves as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Nxera Pharma Co., Ltd. and Representative Director and President of Nxera Pharma Japan Co., Ltd. Prior to joining Nxera Pharma, he served as a Business Unit Head at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) in Japan, where he led the post-merger integration following the acquisition of Celgene and drove commercialization strategy. Before joining BMS, he held roles at Merck & Co. (MSD in Japan), focusing on partnerships and commercialization in the oncology and diabetes therapeutic areas in both Japan and the United States. He brings extensive experience in global leadership and pharmaceutical commercialization. He joined Nxera Pharma as COO in December 2023.
Yuta Inokuchi is Chief Operating Officer of SOLA Biosciences Japan, the Tokyo-based subsidiary of Boston-headquartered SOLA Biosciences Inc. The company is developing AAV-based gene therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. Its lead program, SOL-257, is in preclinical development for ALS and is supported by a subsidy from AMED’s Strengthening Program for Pharmaceutical Startup Ecosystem. Yuta heads the Japanese subsidiary and leads program management for research and development, which SOLA runs as a single integrated effort across its US and Japan teams. Before joining SOLA, he spent more than ten years at L.E.K. Consulting, where he was a Partner and Head of Japan, advising pharmaceutical, biotech, and medtech companies and their investors on strategy. He studied molecular biology and neuroscience at International Christian University and the University of Tokyo.
Physician-scientist and academic leader specializing in human induced pluripotent stem cell（iPSC）-based
disease modeling, drug discovery, precision medicine, and clinical translation. His work has established a
continuum from the development of human iPSC-derived neuronal models and phenotypic screening
technologies to the identification of therapeutic targets, clinical evaluation of iPSC-derived drug candidates,
and integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning with human disease-model data.
He has extensive experience in connecting stem cell science with clinical medicine, pharmaceutical
development, industry, and international scientific communities.
LEADERSHIP AT THE INTERFACE OF STEM CELL SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
Website: https://inoue.cira.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/
Dr. Stubbs is an Assistant Professor and Director of Translational Science at The Buck Institute for Research on Aging, where her work focuses on researching ketone esters for healthy aging. She completed her PhD in Metabolic Physiology at the University of Oxford. Whilst completing her studies she was a two-time World Champion in lightweight rowing on Team Great Britain. Brianna spent two years as Research Lead at a San Francisco start-up, where she launched the world’s first ketone ester consumer product and received $6M of funding from the US Special Operations Command to investigate exogenous ketone impacts on performance in extreme environments. Since moving to The Buck, she received the inaugural NIA Research and Entrepreneurial Development Immersion K01 award, launched a second consumer product and co-founded a ketone-therapeutic company. In 2023, Dr Stubbs co-established the Buck Clinical Geroscience Unit to run the first onsite clinical studies at The Buck.
Masayuki joined Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu LLC in 2007. From 2010, he took part in the second founding of Deloitte Tohmatsu Venture Support, establishing its Silicon Valley office in 2015 and leading its expansion to 260 employees across five global locations as COO. He supported numerous Japanese companies in digital and service transformation, and held roles including COO/Partner at Deloitte Tohmatsu Venture Support and Emerging Growth Leader at Deloitte Private Asia Pacific.
In June 2025, he joined Sompo Holdings, Inc. as Group Co-CDO and Executive Vice President. Leveraging his extensive track record and robust global network, he leads the group’s digital, data, and AI initiatives.
Hirokazu Shimoda joined the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI, Japan) in 1999, and he was engaged in promoting various industries, including IT, cybersecurity, biotechnology and cell and gene therapy, healthcare, and the service sector. From 2016 to 2020, he served as Senior Director of the San Francisco Office of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), concurrently holding a position as a Fellow at the World Economic Forum’s Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
After returning to Japan, he held key positions at METI, including Director of the Information Systems Division and Director of the Bio-Industry Division, where he was responsible for biotechnology industry policy. Since July 2025, he has been serving as a Senior Director at the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), overseeing the practical application of research outcomes and the promotion of the drug development ecosystem.
Joe Heanue is the CEO of Triple Ring, where he is responsible for the firm’s overall vision, culture, and technical excellence. Drawing on a background in physics, engineering, and entrepreneurship, he builds multidisciplinary teams, leads growth partnerships with large corporations, and steers high-value R&D efforts across the healthcare technology landscape.
Hiroki Sugita is a partner in Orrick’s Tokyo Office and a member of the M&A and Private Equity Group. He works on a wide range of cross-border transactions including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, emerging companies and venture capital transactions, and private equity investment especially in Japan, the United States, Europe and Asia.
Hiroki has extensive experience and deep expertise in the life sciences sector and provides support to clients in a wide range of areas, including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, digital health, research, laboratories, medical devices and diagnostic tools.
He also has extensive experience in fund formation, real estate and various types of finance transactions.
Hiroki has a deep understanding of clients’ needs from his secondment experience with a U.S. investment bank in 2005 and a Japanese major trading house from 2012 to 2014.
Joe Alexander Jr., MD, PhD, FACC, is Senior Vice President and Director of Medical & Health
Informatics at NTT Research, where he leads Precision Cardiology and development of a
cardiovascular bio-digital twin platform. A physician-scientist and biomedical engineer trained at
Johns Hopkins, with clinical and research fellowships at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and
Kyushu University, he brings deep expertise in cardiovascular dynamics, modeling and
simulation, and translational medicine. His career spans academic medicine, more than 18 years
of leadership roles at Pfizer across R&D, medical affairs, clinical technology, and business
development, and current work building strategic partnerships to advance data-driven,
personalized cardiovascular care. He is an experienced innovator with a strong publication
record and a practical focus on translating complex biomedical technologies into clinically and
commercially meaningful solutions.
Dr. Jianyu (Daniel) Wu is a biologist by training with a background in stem cell research. Following his postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University, Dr. Wu joined Insilico Medicine as a Biology Project Leader in R&D, where he spearheaded early-stage drug discovery across immunology, oncology, and CNS diseases. Notably, he led the successful nomination of a Preclinical Candidate (PCC) that subsequently received FDA IND approval.
In May 2023, Dr. Wu transitioned to the Business Development team. He now oversees external collaborations for Insilico’s proprietary AI drug discovery platform, AI drug discovery collaboration as well as the out-licensing of the internal pipeline in APAC region including Japan and South Korea. He has been driving and closed multiple AI drug discovery collaboration with total deal value approximal $3 billion and being a key contributor to multiple global pharmaceutical deals.
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/danieljwu316
Gregg Yoshito Shibata (柴田 義人) is a 25-year healthcare veteran with deep expertise navigating U.S. health plans and the healthcare venture ecosystem. He leads the strategic investment program at Blue Shield of California, one of California’s largest nonprofit health plans, where he keeps one foot in the health plan world and one foot in the venture ecosystem – building collaborative and commercial partnerships between internal business leaders and innovative startups.
As an investor, Gregg manages a portfolio spanning direct investments and venture funds across multiple venture-firm partners. As a partnership enabler, he has driven more than 38 commercial contracts, delivering over $100M in revenue to startup partners over his career. His earlier career includes leadership roles at Echo Health Ventures, Quil Health (a joint venture between Independence Blue Cross and Comcast), and Cambia Health Solutions.
Since 2023, Gregg has applied this experience to help Japanese enterprises, entrepreneurs, and investors enter the U.S. healthcare market, advising on a variety of topics such as reimbursement strategy, go-to-market approaches, and commercialization pathways. He is an Advisor to Kicker Ventures and has collaborated on a number of projects with JETRO, METI, Mitsubishi Corporation, Nozomi MedAlliance, and TheraNova around accelerator programming, reimbursement education, and startup mentoring.
A third-generation Japanese American, Gregg graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Japanese History. He then immersed himself in Japanese culture through the JET Program, spending four years teaching in Kitadaito, Okinawa (沖縄県北大東村). He returned to the U.S. in 2001 to build his healthcare career but continues to return to Japan to visit family, friends, and former students, and actively supports Japanese and Japanese American cultural exchange through local community organizations.
Paul Gadiock is a Partner at McDermott Will & Schulte’s San Francisco’s office. He leverages his firsthand experience at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide life sciences, healthcare and other domestic and foreign FDA-regulated companies with practical, strategic counsel at every phase of the product life cycle. Paul supports medical device, digital therapeutic, and biopharma companies, drug compounders, software as a medical device (SaMD) and clinical decision support (CDS) developers and their investors on FDA regulatory and due diligence matters, delivering premarket and postmarket regulatory guidance to maximize business outcomes.
Previously, Paul was a member of the senior leadership team at the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, where he advised agency officials on issues related to the regulatory scope of the FDA’s policies, programs, regulations, and legislation affecting the medical device industry. He also collaborated with the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and Government Accountability Office(GAO) on analyses, investigations and oversight of major national programs. In addition to his government experience, Paul provides a commercially minded approach rooted in real-world experience as a former business development executive at a national diagnostic biotechnology company.
Dan Belsky is Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public in the Robert N Butler Columbia Aging Center, where he directs the Center’s Geroscience Computational Core. His group develops methods to quantify the pace and progress of biological aging in young, midlife, and older adult humans and applies these methods in epidemiological studies and clinical trials to identify opportunities for intervention to increase healthy lifespan. Dan has been recognized as a leader in his field with the Academy of Behavioral Medicine’s Neal Miller New Investigator Award and the American Federation for Aging Research’s Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star Award. He is a fellow of the Academies of Behavioral Medicine and Geroscience. His work is supported by the US National Institute on Aging, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR), among other sources. He is co-director of the AFAR FAST Initiative and a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of AFAR, the Biomarkers of Aging Consortium, and X-Prize Healthspan. He is an inventor of the Pace of Aging method and the DunedinPACE epigenetic clock. Since 2020, he has been named an ISI highly-cited researcher.
We welcome your application to pitch your company at the Conference.
Application Deadline: September 7, 2026
We are seeking early to mid-stage companies from the following sectors:
There are no application fees, but selected companies will be responsible for their own travel and lodging costs and asked to pay a $500 per company program fee that can be applied toward 2026-27 corporate membership in Japan Society. Applications will be evaluated based on alignment with the program theme, interest in the Japanese market, timely response, and commitment to full participation. We will prioritize applications from companies that are offering solutions in the areas of healthspan, longevity, and age-related diseases.
Early submission is encouraged as space is limited.
To apply or learn more, please contact: